The present invention generally relates to skates. More specifically, the present invention relates to in-line roller skates and to methods of molding skates and skate components.
Purchasers of consumer goods such as in-line roller skates typically prefer or require any of a wide variety of features. For instance, some purchasers of in-line roller skates prefer skates that are secured to the foot with laces, while other purchasers prefer skates that are secured to the foot with buckles. Some purchasers seek a basic skate without added features, and other purchasers prefer in-line roller skates with many added features such as accent apertures and fancy buckles.
Consumer tastes tend to change over time and sometimes may change quickly. Rapid manufacturer response to changes in consumer taste is often necessary to retain existing customers and to attract new customers. Production techniques capable of quickly incorporating design changes are important capabilities for manufacturers who must respond to shifting consumer tastes.
In-line roller skates are made using several methods. One manufacturing method of interest is injection molding. Injection molding offers several benefits to manufacturers and consumers alike. For example, a relatively high level of quality control is possible for molded in-line roller skates. Additionally, the cost of molding in-line roller skates may be low, relative to other manufacturing techniques. Also, injection molding techniques are typically adaptable to automation and may include higher reliability factors than alternative manufacturing techniques.
Though in-line roller skate injection molding techniques offer advantages over other manufacturing techniques, injection molding is not without disadvantages. Traditionally, manufacturers developed molds and injection molding techniques to efficiently produce large numbers of identical goods. For example, molds were typically used to manufacture in-line roller skate models that included standard, fixed features with broad consumer appeal. Unfortunately, molds for producing these skates included mold cavities with fixed features that could not be readily modified to accommodate changing consumer preferences.
One potential way for a manufacturer to satisfy changing consumer preferences is to substitute a different mold in the mold machine each time the manufacturer produces a different model of skate. However, molds are relatively expensive and time-consuming to obtain. Consequently, consumer tastes may shift several times before a new mold is obtained, thereby rendering the new mold obsolete before it is even used.
The negative aspects of responding to consumer taste fluctuations by changing molds are more pronounced when consumer preferences are scattered among a wide variety of skate features. Manufacturers may attempt to satisfy scattered preferences by producing small batches of skate models with varied features. However, variable production costs tend to rise significantly when molds are repeatedly changed to fill small orders for different skate models. Furthermore, the physical act of substituting molds is labor intensive and may require lengthy production shutdowns.